Like other sculptors of his place and time, Barye was drawn to the figure of Napoleon Bonaparte, not least because he had been conscripted into the emperors final army at age sixteen. Napoleon, born to a Corsican family of noble Italian descent, worked his way up through the French ranks during the French Revolution and the European wars that followed until he not only ruled France as Napoleon I, but also cast his mark across much of Europe, conquering the majority and either marrying his family into royalty or, in some cases, actually seating them on some of the royal...

Early in his painting career, though drawn architecturally to the neo-classical, Kelly was influenced thematically by the surrealists, most notably the haunted buildings and ominous street scenes of Giorgio de Chirico. Rather than purely realistic depictions of buildings or places, he created neo-romantic fantasies of certain locations, as he does here in New Orleans Capriccio. Those who know the city are aware there is no vantage from which all these things - the bridge, the St. Louis Cathedral, and the Statue of Andrew Jackson - may be seen in this arrangement. A capriccio in music is an improvisational piece in...